James madison lewis



Y (No Model.)

J. M. LEWIS.

.BICYGLE BEARING CLEANER.

No. 563,601, v Patented July 7, 1896-.

i 6 a I wiz hess'e's,"

UNITED STATE PATENT- OFFICE.

JAMES MADISON LEWVIS, OF ALPENA, MICHIGAN, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TOALBERT \V. BROWN, OF SAME PLACE.

BICYCLE-BEARING CLEANER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Pa e a... 563,601, dated July 7,1896.

' Application filed March 9, 1896- To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, JAMES IVIADISON LEWIS, a citizen of the UnitedStates, residing atAlpena, in the county of Alpena and State ofMichigan, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inBicycle-Bearing Oleaners; and I do declare the following to be a full,clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will,enableothers skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use thesame.-

My invention has for its general object to provide a simple andeasily-operated apparatus through the medium of which thebearings ofbicycles maybe thoroughly cleaned of sand, dirt, &c., without necessityof removing the wheels from their axles and without soiling the personor clothing of the operator.

."With the foregoing end in view the invention will be fully understoodfrom the following description and claims, when taken in conjunctionwith the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a side elevation,partly in secion, of my improved apparatus, a portion of a bicycle beingshown in the position it occupies when the bearing of the rear wheel isto be cleaned. Fig. 2 is afrontelevation of the apparatus. Fig. 3 is aplan view of the same, and Fig. 4: is a detail perspective view of thesupport for the machinery to be cleaned.

In the said drawings similar letters designate corresponding parts inall of the views, referring to which- A indicates the base of myimproved apparatus.

B indicates a support which is connected to and rises from the base A,and 0 indicates a receptacle which is connected to and supported by theupright B, and is preferably of a funnel shape, as illustrated, althoughit may be of any other desired shape. This receptacle O is designed tosupport the ma-, chine or portion of the machine to be cleaned and isalso designed to receive the oil, gasolene, or other cleaning liquidafter the same has been forced through the bearings in a mannerpresently described, and it is provided with a filtering-diaphragm D,which is designed to free the cleaning liquid of sand,

serial in. 582,441. (No model.)

dirt, and other foreign substances, so as to permit of its being raised,and is also provided witlrthe frame'E, (better illustrated in Fig. 4,)which serves as a rest for the work to be cleaned. v r

' The frame E may be of any construction suitable to' the purposes of myinvention, but I prefer to have it comprise the circular rim a and thecross-bars b, which are'provided with an aperture 0 at their point ofintersection to receive the axle of a bicycle-wheel, as is illustratedin Fig. 1.' The diaphragm D may also be of any construction and maybesecured upon the receptacle 0 in any approved manner. it of cloth, so asto enable it to gather the fine particles of dust and dirt from the oiland to connect it to the frame E, as illustrated, so

that it may be readily removed with said frame when it is desired togain access to the interior of the receptacle O or is necessary to cleanthe cloth diaphragm.

F indicates the reservoir for the cleaning liquid, which is mounted andsecured upon thebase A,'at the side of the receptacle 0, and isconnected with the bottom of said receptacle by a pipe d, having a cooke, whereby the oil may be conducted from the receptacle C to thereservoir when desired. The said reservoir is provided with an openingin its top through which it may be charged with the cleaning liquid,which opening is normally covered by a cap' f, as illustrated, and it isfurther provided with a pipe g, which has a cock h, and is designed forthe connection of the pipe '5, of lead or other suitable material, whichhas a nozzle j at its end, as illustrated, fora purpose presentlydescribed. I

G indicates an air-compressin g pum'p,which may be of the ordinaryconstruction, andfneed not therefore be specifically described. Thispump G is arranged upon and suitably secured to the base A, and it isconnected with the reservoir F by a pipe H, which has a valve t", asshown, so as to prevent the compressed air and the cleaning liquid frompassing from the reservoir F through the pipe H.

In using my approved apparatus, the reservoirF is charged with coal-oil,gasolene,0r any other cleaning oil or liquid that it is desired Iprefer, however, to form to use, and the cook it of the pipe g beingclosed, the said reservoir is also charged with compressed air throughthe medium of the pump G. This being done, the bicycle is placed uponthe frame E, above the receptacle O, and so that the axle of the wheelwhose bearing is to be cleaned will enter the aperture c of the frame,as shown. The apparatus is now ready for operation, and it is simplynecessary for the operator to hold the nozzle j in such a position thatit will discharge the conimingled compressed air and cleaning solutioninto the bearing of the bicycle, or, if desired, the nozzle may beprovided with a sharp or reduced forward end, so that it will remain inposition when inserted in the bearing. The cook it being new opened thecompressed air and cleaning liquid,which are commingled in the reservoirF, will pass through the pipe 9 and hose i, and will be injected withgreat force into the bearing, so as to thoroughly remove all of theparticles of dust, dirt, and grit therefrom. The cleaning liquid as itcomes from the bearing will pass through the filter-diaphragm D, whichwill free it of the dust, dirt, &c., which it has collected, and willthen fall into the receptacle 0, where it will remain by reason of thecock c being closed. Vhen all of the compressed air and cleaning liquidhas been exhausted from the reservoir F, the cock eis opened and thecleanin g liquid in the receptacle 0 is permitted to pass through thepipe 02 into the reservoir F, when the cock (2 is again closed. is nowclosed and the reservoir is charged with compressed air, after which thecock h is opened and the operation before described is repeated.

The said operation or passage of the compressed air and cleaning liquidto the bearing to be cleaned may be repeated as often as is foundnecessary. I have found from practice, however, that it is generallysimply necessary to pass the air and liquid through a bearing once inorder to thoroughly clean the same, and it will therefore be appreciatedthat the cleaning of a hearing may be quickly effected, which is animportant advantage and a desideration in the art.

Any suitable cleaning liquid may be employed in my improved apparatus,but I prefer to use the coal-oil or gasolene of commerce, as I find thatwhen commingled with compressed air in the manner described they formsuds which are very eifcctual in cleaning bearings.

It will be appreciated from the foregoing that inasmuch as the oil maybe utilized over and over again the expense incident to operating myimproved apparatus is very small, and it will also be appreciated thatthe apparatus embodies no parts that are likely to get out of orderafter short use, and that it may be operated by a single workman, whichis a desideration.

I have in some respects specifically de- The cock 71-.

scribed the construction and relative arrangements of my apparatus inorder to impart a full, clear, and exact understanding of the same. I donot desire, however, to be understood as confining myself to suchconstruction and arrangement, .as such changes or modifications may bemade in practice as fairly fall within the scope of my invention. Iwould also have it understood that while designed especially forcleaning bicycle-bearings, my apparatus may be used to advantage forcleaning parts of other machines.

Having described my invention, What I claim is- 1. An apparatus forcleaning bicycles and other objects comprisinga reservoir, adapted to becharged with compressed air and a cleaning liquid, a discharge -.conduitconnected with the reservoir, an air-compressing device also connectedwith the reservoir, and a receptacle connected with the reservoir andadapted to receiving the cleaning liquid as it comes from the objectthat is being cleaned, substantially as specified.

2. An apparatus for cleaning bicycles and other objects, comprisingareservoir adapted to be charged with compressed air and a cleaningliquid, a discharge conduit connected with the reservoir, anair-compressing device also connected with the reservoir a receptacleconnected with the reservoir and adapted to receive the liquid as itcomes from the object that is being cleaned, and a filter for clearingthe liquid as it passes into the said receptacle, substantially asspecified.

3. An apparatus for cleaning bicycles and other objects, comprising areservoir adapted to be charged with compressed air and a cleaningliquid, a discharge conduit connected with the reservoir and having acock, an air-com pressing device also connected with the reservoir, areceptacle adapted to receive the liquid as it comes from the objectthat is being cleaned, a conduit connecting said receptacle and thereservoir and having a cock, a filter for clearing the liquid as itfalls into said receptacle and a support upon said receptacle for theobject to be cleaned substantially as specified.

4. An apparatus for cleaning bicycles and other machines, comprising areservoir adapted to be charged with a cleaning liquid JAMEs MADISONLEWIS.

\Vitnesses:

CHAS. E. CHENEY, ORLANDO L. PARTRIDGE.

